This lesson is designed to help children connect with history by giving them opportunities to
  • Learn questioning skills
  • Develop the ability to compare to similar things over time (school today with what it was like 100 years ago)
  • Use a map to follow a journey from one state to another on a mode of transportation different from what we use today.
  • Compare what they are expected to learn in 1st grade to what a child 100 years ago learned

School 1900 Here is the sheet on which students may write their comparisons

WhatKidsDidThen-Coompare

Set up Stations for the following experiences.
1. Slates and chalk for writing practice.
2. Making butter -- a churn (paddle is best for this since they can see the butter forming) or you can use a marble in a baby food jar allowing each student to make his/her own butter.
3. Quill pens and ink (you can buy feathers at Michaels -- and instructions for making the pens on the Internet.
http://flick,com/~liralen/quills/quills.html
4. A McGuffy's reader to examine and a short lesson using the PDF below.

McGuffeysReader PDF